Bring Me To Life
by T'Ley
Summary: A post X-Men: The Last Stand story. Logan/Ororo pairing. Not a songfic per say, the lyrics aren't reprinted, but somewhat inspired by the Evanescence song that is referenced in the title.
1. Chapter 1

Rating: PG-13 (for language and bodily injury)

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, except when they are. The settings and locations are not mine, except when they are. The plots, conflicts, and resolutions ARE mine, except when they're not.

Reviews/Feedback: CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is always welcome. Any suggestions you may have on how to make my story better will be greatly appreciated.

Chapter 1:

Logan sometimes wondered if the others knew that Ororo had died. Oh, she went through the motions of living. She ate. She slept, or at least she tried to. She worked, and worked hard, working herself to death some might say. But the truth was, she was already dead.

The fact that it had taken him so long to notice bothered Logan. But then, given the circumstances, it was to be expected. At first, Logan had been too consumed by his own feelings of guilt and regret to notice much of anything. He hadn't wanted to stay, not after everything that had happened. So he'd packed his bag, had waited for everyone else to turn in for the night, and had then headed for the garage. His plan had been to take Scott's motorcycle and hit the open road, moving from place to place without roots or responsibilities or friends. It was a hard life, but it was what he knew.

Logan had been just about to take off when he'd heard Ororo's voice coming from the doorway. "You're leaving us," she'd said. It'd been a simple statement of fact. There'd been no reproach or anger in her tone. In fact there'd been no emotion at all. Logan hadn't noticed the lack of feeling in Ororo's voice, or if he had he'd just assumed that Ororo was being Ororo.

When they first met, Logan had gotten the impression that Ororo was a bit of an ice queen – untouchable and unfazed, no matter what the world threw at her. It was only later when Logan had gotten to know Ororo a little better that he'd realized that she wasn't as cold as she seemed, not really. Ororo had the same feelings as everybody else; she just chose to suppress them, allegedly for the safety of those around her. There WAS a strong connection between mutant abilities and the emotions of said mutants. In fact the thing that most often caused mutant powers to manifest in the first place was stress. However Logan for one thought that Ororo's methods were a little too extreme. Logan supposed he could see her trying to block negative emotions like anger and sorrow, but trying to block everything meant keeping out the joy as well. An old adage about throwing out the baby with the bath water came to mind. Logan had never pushed the issue though. It really wasn't any of his business.

Logan had made some smart-ass comment; the gist of which had been that yeah leaving was the general idea. Ororo hadn't tried to convince Logan to stay. She had said that he would be missed, although she hadn't said by whom. Ororo had then wished Logan luck, and said goodbye. Logan had turned to her, another smart-ass remark on his tongue, but the words had died unspoken when he'd looked at her and had seen the truth. What he'd seen was that there was no life in Ororo's eyes.

On previous occasions, Logan had observed that no matter how calm and aloof Ororo appeared to be on the outside, there was always a spark in her. It was a glimpse of her spirit, the very spirit that drove her. She kept a tight rein on it, yes, but it was always there nonetheless.

However that night when their gazes had met Ororo's eyes had been empty and lifeless - the eyes of a sleepwalker, or a walking corpse. It was as if the spirit had completely gone out of her. This had snapped Logan out of his brooding. Although he and Ororo weren't exactly the closest of friends, it had still concerned Logan to see Ororo that way. It had also made Logan think. He'd been so wrapped up in what he was going through that he'd totally bypassed the fact that others had been hit hard by recent events. Ororo in particular now carried a heavy burden. With Scott, Jean and the Professor gone Ororo had shouldered the responsibility for the school and its students. Going from teaching history to running everything was overwhelming enough. Combine that with the grief that was no doubt buried somewhere inside her and it was little wonder that the spark in Ororo's eyes had been snuffed out.

Logan had decided then and there that he couldn't leave Ororo the way she was. She needed help, whether she would admit it or not. There had to be a way to put some life back into her, and Logan was determined to find it. Maybe he could start by taking some of the load off her shoulders. Latching on to one of Ororo's previous comments, Logan had said that maybe he'd stick around, since they'd all miss him so much. Logan had then grabbed his bag and had headed back to his room, not giving Ororo the chance to think too carefully about what he'd said, knowing that it wouldn't hold up under scrutiny.

In the days that followed, Logan had done his best to make himself useful. He'd found out from Ororo what needed to get done and then he'd done it. However when it came to finding Ororo's lost spirit, Logan felt like he was getting nowhere. If he could just get Ororo to open up, to talk to him about what had happened. Logan had tried. He remembered that morning in Ororo's office quite vividly. She'd been sitting at her desk going over some paperwork when Logan had come in to get his to do list from her. Before he'd left the office Logan had paused, and then he'd said to Ororo, "If you ever need somebody to talk to…"

There'd been dead silence for several moments while Logan waited for a response. Ororo had then thanked Logan civilly before going back to her paperwork. Logan hadn't forced the issue. He'd hoped that if he gave Ororo some time to think about his offer that she'd come around on her own. That hadn't happened. Logan was beginning to seriously consider confronting Ororo, bringing the issue front and center in the hopes that if he got in her face it would make her angry. At least then she'd be feeling something.

"Earth to Logan." Jubilee said, waving a hand in front of Logan's face, interrupting his thoughts. Logan glanced over at her. "What?" Logan asked. Jubilee gave him an exasperated look. "I SAID a group of us wanted to know if you could drive us up to the mall after lunch." Jubilee, while she was speaking, gestured across the crowded cafeteria to a handful of students that were seated at one of the tables. She then nodded towards the untouched plate of food that was sitting in front of Logan and added, "When you're done."

"I'll think about it." Logan said gruffly. Jubilee turned and headed back towards the group at the table, shrugging her shoulders in an 'I tried' gesture. Logan watched her go, feeling a little sorry for the kids. They'd all been going a tad stir crazy this weekend. Logan then turned his gaze back to Ororo. He'd been watching her quite a bit lately when he thought she wasn't looking, keeping an eye on her, wanting to be there if something gave. If Logan had had to give a name to his recent activities it would have been stalking, the label delivered with a heavy dose of sarcasm. Even in the privacy of his own mind Logan didn't, couldn't classify his actions for what they were – suicide watch. The unnamed fear was there however, half formed in the back of Logan's mind, taking the shape of a general feeling of unease and foreboding.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Notes/Author's Note: The next chapter will be longer; I promise.

Ororo sat in the cafeteria picking at her plate of food, her eyes downcast. He was watching her again, Ororo thought. He was always watching her. Ororo wasn't the only one who had noticed Logan's sudden interest in her. The student's had picked up on it as well. Ororo had overheard some of the more outlandish rumors, including the one about Logan having a crush on her. Ororo was beyond caring one way or the other. To allow herself to feel anything, good or bad, would mean opening the floodgates and letting everything in. It was better to leave her feelings safely buried, lest they should overwhelm her. These days the only thing she felt was numbness. Still, she sometimes wondered what Logan saw when he looked at her, and what had really made him decide to stay.

That night was like so many other nights. At curfew, Ororo checked to make sure all the students were in bed before going to her own room. She lay there in the dark for an hour or so, unable to sleep, before getting up and heading to her office. Once there, Ororo worked until fatigue blurred her vision and she could no longer read the words on the papers in front of her. She folded her arms on top of her desk and laid her head on them, just to rest her eyes for a moment, and then dozed off in her chair. Tonight was different however. Tonight, something would happen that would force Ororo to confront what she had become.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

The sounds of rattling windows and howling winds woke Logan from his sleep. His first thought, even before he'd identified what had awakened him, was Ororo. Since that night in the garage Ororo was often the first thing to cross Logan's mind when he woke up, although Logan himself was not consciously aware of that fact. Once his brain had processed exactly what was going on Logan was out of bed and through the door in seconds. Around here there was usually one explanation for freak weather conditions. Logan took off down the hall, headed for Ororo's office. Logan had been shadowing Ororo long enough to know that she wouldn't be in her room.

The students were coming out of their rooms as well. They stood in clusters in the hallway, glancing at each other, unsure what to do. Logan was forced to slow his pace as he made his way around them. Perhaps it was because of this slower pace that Logan's heightened senses were able to detect the almost imperceptible vibrations in the old stone structure. It was as if the winds outside were trying to blow the school off its foundations. Concerned for the kids' safety, Logan quickly formulated a plan of action. Bobby and Kitty were standing in the hall attempting to calm down a group of the younger children. "Get everyone down to the lower levels." Logan told them. Bobby nodded once, and then he and Kitty got to work rounding up the student body. Logan continued down the hallway, passing on to any stragglers the message to head for the lower levels.

When Logan reached Ororo's office he found her still sound asleep at her desk, despite the fact that the rushing winds sounded like a freight train roaring past the building. Ororo's head was resting on her folded arms, her face turned towards the office window. The lamp on the desk had been left on, but even without its light Logan's heightened vision would still have noted Ororo's troubled expression. Logan gripped Ororo's shoulders and began shaking her. "'Ro!" Logan shouted over the wind, using his personal nickname for Ororo. "'Ro, wake up!" Ororo's eyes opened - completely white and opaque, as if her powers had totally consumed her. At that moment the office window seemed to explode inward, the windowpane shattering into thousands of small fragments. Logan used his body to shield Ororo from the flying glass.

The white slowly cleared from Ororo's eyes, melting away like a morning mist. The winds died down to nothing, with not even the hint of a breeze remaining to disturb the night air. "'Ro?" Logan said gently, his concern for Ororo overriding everything else. "'Ro, you ok?"

The last remnants of sleep were stubbornly clinging to Ororo, dulling her senses so that she was barely aware of her surroundings. The sound of Logan's voice managed to penetrate this residual haziness, although Ororo could not have put a name to the voice. In fact, she did not register the sound as a voice at all. Ororo slowly lifted her head, meeting Logan's anxious gaze. The empty stare that he received in return convinced Logan that Ororo was looking at him without actually seeing him. For a brief moment Logan feared that Ororo's mind had followed her spirit into the abyss, and that the woman he knew was gone for good. A flood of emotions followed, but this was smothered by an overwhelming sense of relief when Logan saw a look of recognition in Ororo's eyes.

"Logan?" Ororo said. She sounded confused and uncertain. A jumbled mess of thoughts and information whirled around inside her head, leaving her dizzy and disoriented as she attempted to make sense of it all. Ororo vaguely remembered the dream she'd been having. The specifics of the dream eluded her, but its defining characteristic had been an overall feeling of helplessness. That helpless feeling had seemed to spawn other unpleasant thoughts, each one hitting Ororo like a physical blow. She was worthless, inconsequential, and no matter what she did it wouldn't make any difference in the grand scheme of things. Ororo had been slowly driven towards the point of total despair, and then…

Once more Logan's voice succeeded in forcing its way through to her. "This has to stop, 'Ro." Logan said gravely. Ororo tried to focus her attention on Logan, and was surprised by how difficult it was. Her eyelids felt incredibly heavy. In fact, Ororo felt as if she was sitting on the ocean floor, with the resulting water pressure pushing down on her whole body. Ororo was used to falling asleep in her office. She was used to the resulting stiffness in her back and everywhere else. She was used to waking up and still feeling tired. However, what Ororo was experiencing now was closer to total exhaustion. She was quite certain that she was more tired now than she had been when she fell asleep. "What?" Ororo asked, not understanding Logan's previous statement.

"Keeping everything bottled up inside ain't working anymore!" Logan said, sounding genuinely angry. "You could've killed someone tonight, and I know keeping everyone here safe is important to you! Take a good look around!" Logan turned, gesturing towards the office interior. Some lighter pieces of furniture were overturned, papers were blown everywhere, and a large quantity of fresh, green leaves (stripped from the trees outside) were lying on the floor. Ororo gasped, not so much at the condition of the room but at the blood on the back of Logan's white sleeveless undershirt.

To be honest, Logan had almost forgotten about the glass. Yes, he had become increasingly frustrated by the whole situation. He was frustrated by his seeming inability to be of any real help to Ororo. He was frustrated by what he perceived as a flat out refusal of his offer to listen while she talked through her problems. Also, the fact that Ororo would let things get to this point had brought to the surface those unnamed fears that had taken up residence in the back of Logan's mind. He was afraid for her, afraid of what she might do to herself, unintentionally or otherwise. However when he'd turned his back to her, Logan had not intended to deliberately shock Ororo, rubbing the pain she had caused in her face. The more he thought about it though, the more Logan wondered if that was exactly what Ororo needed right now to convince her that she needed help.

Ororo slowly took it all in. She remembered now. Her dream had brought her almost to the breaking point. It would have been so easy to let herself sink and drown in a sea of hopelessness. But then something had snapped inside her. If nothing else, Ororo was a survivor. She'd survived the events that had killed her parents, and after they were gone she had continued to survive on her own until the X-Men found her. Now Ororo's surrogate family had been taken from her, but SHE had survived. Perhaps keeping the school going WAS an exercise in futility. Perhaps she WAS merely holding off the inevitable, but she WOULD keep going. She owed it to those who were left, owed it to the memory of those who were no longer with them, and she owed it to herself.

Ororo had started to fight back, lashing out at the darkness that had been slowly engulfing her. Ororo had felt the power growing within her, drawing strength from all her pent up emotions. The rising force had been so strong that she'd been unable to control it. She'd become nothing more than a conduit, the power flowing through her like a bolt of lightning taking the shortest path to the ground.

Fear stabbed at Ororo's heart when she saw the blood on Logan's shirt. "The children." Ororo said, struggling to raise her voice above a whisper.

"I sent everyone down to the lower levels." Logan told her. He'd heard the fear in Ororo's voice. 'Good,' Logan thought, 'maybe it'll knock some sense into her.' Ororo stood up, dragging herself to her feet. She was still fighting the exhaustion that was no doubt a result of overtaxing her powers, but her fear had sent a brief surge of adrenalin through her system. "I need to go down there." Ororo said, gripping the back of the chair for support, talking more to herself than to Logan. "I need to make sure the children are alright." Ororo took a step towards the door, but she was shaking so badly that her legs would not support her weight and she stumbled. Logan managed to steady her. "How 'bout we use the P.A. system?" Logan said. "It'll save time." The school-wide public address system, with a separate line to the lower levels for emergencies, was one of the early projects that Logan had seen to for Ororo.

Ororo activated the connection to the lower levels. Her voice shook a little as she asked, "Is everyone alright?" A response came through a moment later, but that moment felt like an eternity to Ororo. "Ms. Munroe?" Kitty's voice questioned from the other end of the line. Once contact had been established Logan promptly took charge. "Yeah, she's here." Logan confirmed. "Is everybody ok?"

"We're fine," a second voice replied. "We're all here." It was Bobby's voice. Logan instructed everyone to sit tight and told them that he and Ororo would be down soon. "Is Ms. Munroe ok?" Kitty asked.

"She had a nightmare." Logan replied before he shut down the connection. Logan turned his head to look Ororo in the eye. "You gonna tell me what really happened?" he asked.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Ororo knew that she owed Logan some sort of explanation; there was no way around that. What had happened tonight was not the sort of thing that could be swept under the rug and forgotten and yet, the act of confiding in someone was still difficult for Ororo. Over the years suppression had become as natural (and in her mind just as necessary) as breathing, to the point where it was practically an automatic response, not a conscious decision. Granted, as Logan had pointed out none to subtly, this coping mechanism had just endangered the lives of everyone at the school. Ororo saw the truth in Logan's words. However, she couldn't help feeling guilty burdening someone else with her problems (especially someone like Logan, who had more than enough problems of his own). Ororo was also unsure how to explain her dream ordeal in a way that someone who had not experienced it would understand. "I don't know if I can." Ororo said in a quiet voice, answering Logan's question honestly.

Logan misinterpreted Ororo's response as yet another attempt to blow him off and his temper flared again. Didn't she realize how serious this was? How could she not realize it, when she was standing in the midst of the destruction she had caused? People could have died! SHE could have died, and until the issue was resolved there was always the chance that it would happen again. What part of that didn't she get?

"Damn it 'Ro, you've gotta talk to somebody!" Logan shouted. He was tempted to grab Ororo and shake her, but this compulsion was quickly restrained. The thought of physically hurting Ororo turned Logan's stomach. Logan took a calming breath and attempted to soften his tone. "I know…"

If she had been in her normal state Ororo might not have lost her self-control, but the hopelessness and the defiance and the confusion and the shock and the fear were all still fresh in her mind, weakening the wall that she had constructed to hold back her emotions, and those two words turned out to be the straw that broke the camel's back. "Don't!" Ororo snapped, cutting Logan off. "Don't tell me that you know what I'm going through! How CAN you know? I lost my family, Logan! The Professor, Jean, Scott, they were the closest thing I had to family! How can you know what that feels like?"

Logan wasn't sure what had triggered Ororo's outburst, but that didn't really matter. Logan planned to take full advantage of the opening that Ororo had given him. "I know part of you died with them." Logan said, pleased that they were finally getting somewhere. "I can see it in your eyes."

Logan's words resonated deeply with Ororo, coming uncomfortably close to the truth. He was right; a part of her had died. Or at least, she felt dead inside. Ororo could barely remember the last time that she had experienced real joy. As for her other emotions (grief, anger, perhaps some survivor's guilt) those she'd kept locked away inside the icy prison that had been her heart. There they'd remained, in a state of perpetual hibernation, until tonight.

Logan's eyes were still fixed intently on Ororo as he waited for a response. 'Always watching,' Ororo thought. Yet again she found herself pondering those same questions that had occupied her thoughts this afternoon in the cafeteria. "What else do you see?" Ororo asked, although she wasn't really sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"You wanna know what I've been seeing?" Logan asked, before answering his own question with the word, "Nothing. It's like the lights are on but nobody's home, 'Ro." Logan struggled a little trying to find the right words, words that would get across what he meant to say and still make sense. "Like you've turned into a damned zombie or something, and I don't like it."

"Why?" Ororo interrupted. "Why do you care so much?" It was a perfectly reasonable question, yet it seemed to catch Logan off guard. He recovered quickly however and brushed the question aside, saying, "Don't change the subject. This ain't about me."

"Maybe it should be." Ororo countered. "We were both there, Logan. You want me to talk about it, but I don't hear YOU offering to share." Ororo had a valid point. Why should she be expected to open up if Logan wasn't willing to do the same? Logan, being smarter than most people gave him credit for, quickly grasped the precarious position that he was in. Discussing his feelings regarding the recent tragedy meant opening a can of worms that was probably best left closed. If he outright refused however, then he would lose any chance he had of getting Ororo to confide in him. 'Why was she suddenly interested in how he felt anyway?' Logan wondered. Just then a possible means of escape presented itself in Logan's thoughts and he latched onto it.

"You never asked." Logan said, hoping to nip this tangent in the bud before things went any further.

"And if I had?" Ororo challenged.

Logan exhaled. Apparently there was no getting out of this one. Ororo was a very determined woman; some might even say stubborn. She always had been, at least as long as Logan had known her, and Logan realized now that she wasn't going to drop it until he gave her some straight answers. So he resigned himself to his fate, turned his head towards the far wall and asked, "What do you wanna know?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

That last sentence took Ororo completely by surprise. She'd assumed, based on the way that Logan had been dodging questions, that he would try to derail this particular train of conversation, shifting the focus back to her in the process. But then you know what they say about assuming. For a few moments Ororo remained silent, her mouth filled with unneeded arguments regarding double standards. The fact that Logan was, in a way, offering to share part of himself with Ororo was a little difficult for her to process. Ororo's next complete thought was that Logan must trust that she wouldn't share with anyone whatever he told her in confidence. This was actually somewhat flattering, when you kept in mind that Logan did not make a habit of trusting people. He had also neglected to specify any restrictions on what Ororo could and couldn't ask, so presumably nothing was off limits.

Ororo fully grasped that this was a unique opportunity, one unlikely to be repeated, and she wanted to make the most of it. She silently asked herself, 'what did she want to know most about Logan', but only one question seemed to come to mind. "What made you stay?" Ororo asked.

Whatever question Logan had been expecting that wasn't it. He hesitated. 'You,' Logan thought, but he couldn't say that out loud. He knew how it would sound, and he didn't want to give Ororo the wrong idea. 'Why had he stayed really?' Logan wondered. He could have left, and let Ororo deal with her own problems. It was none of his business how she coped. What was it about her empty, lifeless eyes that had compelled him to put his own pain on the back burner? Logan was still facing the wall, and he glanced briefly at Ororo out of the corner of his eye. Somehow their roles had been reversed, in the sense that she was now watching him intently, waiting for a response. How could he explain to her something that he didn't fully understand himself? Logan shrugged his shoulders, trying to look casual. "You needed help," he said, and left it at that.

Logan's answer came as something of a disappointment. The length of the pause that he'd taken had led Ororo to expect a reply with a little more depth to it, something that would give her more insight into Logan himself. This answer merely brushed the surface. It was the most obvious answer, and if Ororo had never found Logan in the garage preparing to leave she might even have believed it. But Logan had almost left, and claiming that he'd decided to stay because Ororo needed help running the school just didn't hold water. When Logan was set on doing something he did it, and he wouldn't have altered his plans so abruptly without a good reason. SOMETHING must have changed his mind.

"You're lying," Ororo said point blank, her eyes fixed on Logan's profile. "You've always known I would need help with the school. You knew how difficult things had become here with the three of them gone. You knew and you STILL tried to leave. What changed your mind?"

Logan wasn't sure what came over him after that. Maybe it had something to do with Ororo calling him a liar to his face. Or maybe it was the fact that in Logan's mind the 'you needed help' had been deliberately ambiguous, and it seemed to him that Ororo had completely missed the point. For whatever reason, Logan's temper got the better of him, again. He abruptly turned to face Ororo.

"I'm not talking about the school, damn it; I'm talking about you!" Logan shouted. "You barely eat! You don't sleep if you can help it! You kill yourself with work but you're three quarters dead already! There's no fire in you anymore, 'Ro! I couldn't leave you like that!"

Logan was basically ranting at this point, venting all of his pent up frustrations, the words pouring out of his mouth without his brain giving much thought to them. It took a minute for Logan to realize the implications of those words. That last sentence could very easily be misinterpreted as a declaration of love. It seemed that that was exactly how Ororo had taken it, if her stunned expression was anything to go by. Logan suddenly felt as if he'd stumbled into a metaphorical hole in the ground, and he tried to think of a way to extricate himself that wouldn't result in him digging his own grave, figuratively speaking. Logan wanted to reassure Ororo that he wasn't in love with her, that he didn't expect anything more from her. At the same time Logan wanted Ororo to know that he did care about her, as a friend. He wanted her to understand that he really had stayed for her, just not for the reasons she was thinking. He wanted her to know that as her friend he would keep her secrets if she chose to confide in him, and that he would never judge her or think less of her. There was nothing that Logan wanted more than to see the life back in Ororo's eyes, and he was willing to do anything to make that happen.

A question drifted up from somewhere in the depths of Logan's heart. 'Isn't that what love is?' What happened next could best be described as an epiphany of sorts. It was as if Logan had been spending his life in a darkened room (without the benefit of his heightened senses), unable to see what was right in front of his face, and now someone had turned on the lights. 'Do I love her?' Logan wondered. He had never even considered the possibility before, yet here and now that possibility seemed very real. As with a sudden change in lighting, Logan would need time to adjust to the idea. His initial reaction was to dismiss it. 'I can't be in love with 'Ro,' Logan reasoned. Jean entered his thoughts and he tried to grab hold of the memory, until he realized that this was the first time in a long time that Jean had so much as crossed his mind.

Logan could still remember how he'd felt when Jean had died. The feelings of guilt and regret were so relentless that he'd nearly left the school. Where had those feelings gone? If he'd really loved Jean, wouldn't she still be occupying his thoughts every waking moment?

It didn't take long for Logan to realize why Jean was no longer monopolizing his thoughts. Other things had taken priority, things like attempting to lighten the workload for Ororo, and trying to think of a way to get Ororo to talk about what had happened, and keeping an eye on Ororo to make sure she didn't kill herself, figuratively or literally. It seemed that Ororo had gradually become the center of Logan's world, although he had never thought of it that way until now. The fact that she had somehow managed to take over his life should have bothered Logan more, yet for some reason it didn't.

Logan was able to partially reconcile his thoughts and feelings by admitting to himself that maybe he did love Ororo, in a way. There was after all a big difference between 'loving' someone and being 'in love' with someone. The love of a brother or a good friend was not the same thing as the love of a boyfriend or husband, but the WORD love was used for both.

Logan would most likely have continued his quest to sort things out if Ororo hadn't broken the silence. "Logan I…" she began, but stopped before she had completed the thought. Logan believed that he had a pretty good idea what Ororo would say next, once she got herself collected. She would say that she was flattered, but that she couldn't return his feelings. Logan told himself that he should probably speak up first, but his mind and heart were in such a state of disarray that he had absolutely no idea what he should say. He couldn't even bring himself to look Ororo in the eye. Logan heard Ororo exhale, and then she said, "Sometimes it feels like I lose everyone I get close to."

For someone as reserved as Ororo, these words were a major breakthrough, and Logan knew it. He knew how difficult it must have been for Ororo to share such a private thought with anyone. There was also something in her voice, some emotion or combination of emotions that defied Logan's attempts to label them but that nevertheless struck a chord. Logan's gaze drifted back to Ororo's face, instinctively searching for answers despite his not really knowing what the questions were. Their eyes met and once again Logan saw the truth. It had been there all along, lurking just behind Ororo's words, but the signs had been so obscure that Logan hadn't even picked up on it. The truth was that Ororo was afraid to risk getting too attached to anyone else, afraid that she would only loose them in the end. Ororo knew all too well what it felt like to loose someone she cared about, and she would rather isolate herself than face that pain again.

Logan knew all about keeping people at arms length, about never getting close to anyone. He had lived that way for years, before crossing paths with the X-Men, and he knew what cutting himself off from the world had done to him. He'd become selfish and self-centered, not caring about anything or anyone else. Nothing breeds indifference in a human heart like being completely on your own, and Logan refused to stand by and let what happened to him happen to Ororo. "You wanna talk about it?" Logan asked gently.


End file.
